Inyo Craters

 Hello Everyone,

On Thursday, July 15th, we drove a few miles up Mammoth Mountain to explore Inyo Craters, two interesting dormant volcanic craters. 

The trail up to the craters was steep in some places, past several places where many trees had fallen, another sad result of the extreme drought being experienced in the West.

These are big beautiful trees and it is sad to see so many of them struggling to survive.

After a short hike, we found the craters high on the side of the mountain. They were much larger and deeper than we had expected. This one is more than 100 feet down to the water and judging by the hue of the blue water, the lake at the bottom is quite deep also.

There was a nice hike all the way around the first crater, which led to the second crater further on.

Nearly every place you go in the high Sierras, there are breathtaking vistas, with sheer cliffs and mountain peaks to admire.

Tomorrow we are going back to the other side of Mammoth Mountain and hike up to Crystal Lake on the Crystal Crag Trail, a nearly 900-foot vertical rise, in just over a mile. That means the trail is pretty steep, with a lot of switchbacks. Wish us luck😃.